The Suunto M1 heart rate monitor is a beginner heart rate monitor by Suunto. The M1 is the most basic model of the Suunto M-series.

The Suunto M-Series heart rate monitors are intended for recreational athletes. They are very simple in style and features. If you’re simply looking to get active or improve your fitness level, the M-Series is the perfect heart rate monitor to help you reach your goals. If you are an experienced athlete looking to maximize your performance, the Suunto t-Series may be a better choice.

There is no question that Suunto heart rate monitors go beyond the classic heart rate monitor look. They are the best looking heart rate monitors available.

How does Suunto describe the Suunto M1 (and the Sunnto M2):

Easy to use with 3 buttons, a large display and 9 supported languages

Real time exercise guidance (heart rate and calories)

Switches amongst 3 heart rate zones automatically

Exercise summaries

Comfortable heart rate belt (a chest strap) which happens to be compatible with most machines at the gym

2 year warranty

What we like the most about the Suunto M1 heart rate monitor:

The large face make it very easy to read. We hate squinting to read our heart rate on most of the other brands.

The Suunto M1 offers guidance during your workout. In order to do that you have to set your fitness level. You select from a range of 6 presets which range from “very poor” to “excellent”.

The exercise summary is nice feature for this level of heart rate monitor watch. The Suunto M1 allows you to view the starting time and date of the exercise, the duration, the percentage of time spent in each zone and outside of the pre-set zones, the calories burned, the average heart rate and the peak heart rate.

You can even save cumulative information from previous workouts. It will show you the number and duration of all saved exercises, the number and duration of the saved exercised during the last 4 weeks, the calories burned during the last 4 weeks, and the percentage of time spent in each heart rate zone during the 4 weeks. This type of cumulative information is not normally available in an entry level heart rate monitor.

Instructions are provided on how to replace the battery for BOTH the chest strap and the heart rate monitor watch. They caution you on a few tricky parts of the process but changing the battery will not void your warranty.

What we don’t like about the Suunto M1:

There is no backlight. Are you serious? C’mon Suunto. This a big drawback.

There is no way to change the pre-set defaults for the time zones. You can change the maximum heart rate, but you can’t change the 3 time zones. They use 60%-70%, 70% – 80%, and 80%-90% as the 3 zones. If you wanted one wider zone, you are out of luck.

How does the Suunto M1 compare to other heart rate monitors:

The Suunto M1 has exactly the same features as the M2. The M1 is available only in black, but the M2 is available in both black and pink. In addition, the chest strap that comes with the M2 is dual mode- analog and digital. In analog mode, the chest strap is compatible with cardio machines at the gym. In digital mode, it is guaranteed to be interference free.

If you like the Suunto M1/M2 and are looking for a woman’s heart rate monitor, go for the Pink Sunnto M2. It’s the same price as the M1. If pink is not your color, you need to decide if the extra cost is worth the value of the dual mode chest strap.

Suunto is the way to go

I'm really happy with it. The watch's design and size are great. It's easy to use. It's very comfortable.

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The best...almost

Suunto M1 Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review

First

First, this Suunto looks great. I wear it everyday because it's that nice looking. I receive many compliments about it.

I had to give it only 4 star because it doesn't have a backlight.

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Easy to use?

Suunto M1 Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review

Hank

I always delete the workout because I hit the pause button. I have done it so many times it drives me crazy.

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You call this quality?

Suunto M1 Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review

Sarah

There are a lot of great reviews on Suunto quality but my M1 heart rate monitor watch died during the first month I used it. Is that quality?

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It all comes down to the heart rate

Suunto M1 Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review

John

I thought about this for a long, long time. Should I go with the polar? Or Timex? Or the suunto? Then I looked at different models for each brand. I finally decided on the Suunto M series because they look great and function great.

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NO way

Suunto M1 Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review

Ann

Keep looking. There is no backlight. There is no timer. Both of these are important to me. This one is going back. I don't have anything about the Suunto's but I need to keep looking.